A semiconductor wafer substrate generally includes a front side having integrated circuits formed thereon, and a bulk of semiconductor material providing the back side of substrate. Prior to bonding and packaging of individual integrated circuit chips or bonding to other semiconductor substrates, the wafer substrate is typically thinned to remove unwanted semiconductor material or to expose through wafer vias embedded in the substrate to provide electrical contact from the back side to the integrated circuits formed on the front side.
It is desirable to perform the thinning of the wafer with a high accuracy which is uniform across the wafer such that a remaining thickness of the wafer has a desired value or such that a residual thickness measured between tip ends of the through wafer vias embedded in the substrate and the back surface of the wafer has a desired value.